These skirts are too amazing not to share...

Love these! You can also enter to win one.

http://laviepetite.blogspot.com/2011/07/giveaway.html?showComment=1311961772198#c6033845953635039269

The Polka Dot Patch: Classroom Pics & Clip Chart Part 2 :)

For my teacher friends: Cute ideas and printables! I may barrow the name for my outside display :O)

The Polka Dot Patch: Classroom Pics & Clip Chart Part 2 :): " I have been working a little each day in my room and I am making pretty good head way. Above you can see what I walked into on Monday. ..."

New Quick Sale Items

Hurry over to our FB page and check out the New Quick Sale Items!

Announcement!

Is excited to announce a WONDERFUL addition to Dandelions and Dragonflies, my best friend for almost 10 years...Jenny Dickens. She will be working on numerous items that you can add to your buckets (especially for those baby gift buckets) or just purchase separately. Some of her items can be special ordered and some will be with our new Quick Sale Items. Check out the album, Crochet Items.

 

Things to come!

I am so excited about all the different things I have been working on lately. My classroom is coming along! Keep an eye out teachers because I will be posting pictures very soon, along with my products that I have used in my own classroom (very very cute...you will want to order them!). Also I have been trying my hand at a few new crafts, to sell. These will be featured on my Facebook page. They will be handmade items that are available for sale as soon as they are posted. A picture of the item will be posted along with a description, possible personal choices that can be added, and how many are available. All you have to do is leave a comment stating SOLD and your email address, first come first serve! Don't forget Christmas is right around the corner. Don't worry I won't leave out my blog readers, I will post previews the day prior to the sale so that you all can have a "heads up". Can't wait to share it all with you!!!

PREVIEW:

Sizzling Summer

So we are back from our beach vacation, and had a wonderful time. Now back to buckets and getting into school mode (where did the summer go??). Here are a few pics of our fun Summertime Bash we had right before we left to go out of town. Beach blog and pics to come soon. 

She had her own little pool

So cute

Jumping and posing for the camera at the same time!

Getting an arm workout

Little man looking at all the babes!

Mali playing lifeguard

The line to get on the stairs

Rub-a-dub-dub three girls in a boat

Refueling, notice baby had to have lunch with them!

My Craft Channel: Our 9th Hosts Revealed: House of Smiths (bonus vid...

My Craft Channel: Our 9th Hosts Revealed: House of Smiths (bonus vid...: "Wahoo....it's day nine of our 20 Cricuts in 20 Days and our new Hosts reveal, isn't it exciting. We're having so much fun giving away these..."

My Craft Channel: 8th Host Revealed and E2 Giveaway: Welcome Heidi S...

My Craft Channel: 8th Host Revealed and E2 Giveaway: Welcome Heidi S...: "We're happy to announce the winner of the Cricut Expression from yesterday's post: (un)Deniably Domestic Location: Springfield : Mis..."

My Craft Channel: Lucky 7th Host Revealed: Brittany of One Charming ...

My Craft Channel: Lucky 7th Host Revealed: Brittany of One Charming ...: "Although it's hard to resist jumping right into today's introduction, we were just as excited to announce our next lucky winner of the Cric..."

My Craft Channel: Triple the Talent: Introducing Get a Little Creati...

My Craft Channel: Triple the Talent: Introducing Get a Little Creati...: "We are very excited to start a new week here at My Craft Channel and continue to introduce you to our new Fall hosts. Just like last week, ..."

My Behavior Management Plan

Okay some have asked, so here it is...

This is the plan I intend to use this year, but I do have a disclaimer. As most teachers know a behavior management plan is always changing and always on going. I don't mean changing dramatically, but as you get to know your students, and the year progresses, you may need to tweak and adjust accordingly.

My plan has multiple parts to it because I include positive reinforcement in with my plan. If you start the year off with a strong plan and stick with it, it should work. Don't make exceptions and be tough! Otherwise they will walk all over you!

So let's start with the behavior/work folder. In my classroom I have two file folder pocket chart holders. I have them hanging side by side.

Above one of them I have cut out letters, Complete. Above the second: Not Complete. (Sorry no picture, but will put some up when I am back in my classroom). Each student has their own folder. These folders are used for work and behavior (I will post about how I collect work later, right now just focusing on behavior). Here is how I "decorate/label" the outside of them. On the tab I usually print the student's name and number, but this year I may use labels so that it stands out more.

Inside the folder I have a behavior chart, this chart is used by my entire grade level. It is something that we decided on as a group.

When a student does not follow one of the conduct or work habit behaviors listed in the chart they receive a check in their folder for that week. Some teachers have their students pull their folder when a check is needed. I however, of course, need a visual. So I also have a behavior chart next to the work/behavior folders. I use the following pocket chart. Mine is very similar, and I think it has more pockets. But their names are on the left and it's blank on the right. I have different colored cards that represent different behaviors (cut from laminated construction paper), and I don't have a card for every behavior listed on the chart, some fall under the same type card. Example: Red=talking, Green=Responsibility, Orange=No Homework. If a child exhibits one of the "bad" behaviors, they pull that color card, and place it next to their name.

At the end of the day if a student has to pull a card I write in their agenda why they had to pull a card. At the end of the week I use the behavior chart to put the checks in their work/behavior folder. On Fridays my team has Fun Friday (we each host a different activity, one of which is an IN room for behavior or work completion). If a student does not pull a card all week and has completed their work they can sign up for Fun Friday. In my room if a student pull two cards they must go to the IN room for 15min for behavior, if a student pulls more than two cards they are in the IN room for the entire time. If you notice pull cards and eventually checks in their folders cause their work habits and conduct grades to go down. This is something that can keep the student off such things as Honor Roll.

Now what I found last year is that like most teachers I would give warning after warning. I was really wanting to find something that I could do that would allow me to stop warning so much, and yet not interrupt my class so often. Last year I had the privilege of working with our county's Behavior Specialist (due to having and EBD student in my room). She gave me some great advice that not only worked with that particular student, but with my other students as well. "Be NON-VERBAL!" A lot of behavior students tend to thrive off of the verbal "banter" and want that negative attention. The system I used for my EBD student was very involved, however I came up with a simpler version for my other students.

At the end of last year I had each student place a red/yellow counter on the corner of desk.

Every student would start every segment/class period on yellow. If they break any classroom rule (mostly talking), I simply walk over and flip the counter to red, that is their warning. If they break any other rule during that segment/class period, they lose their counter and after that segment will pull a card, resulting in a check in their folder. Now, after that class segment all students will put their counters back on yellow.

Are you following this so far? Basically every student gets a "clean slate" at the beginning of each segment. For younger students, or students that have a harder time behaving you may not want your segment to be the entire length of a class period, you may need to build stamina. So, set a timer for 15 min. or so, however your goal should be to build that good behavior stamina, eventually you should increase the time of the segments.

Now for the positive reinforcement. First individual incentives: each of my students has a good behavior punch card.

These are the ones I use. If a student goes ALL day without ever flipping their counter to red, they earn a punch on their punch card. I also give punches on their punch cards for great hallway behavior, being one of the few students following directions, sitting very quietly as we come back from a break or transition. I would just tell them to place their punch card on my desk. Now if they get five stars (say on the left) punched, they get a small piece of candy, usually a dum dum. If they get the next five stars (on the right) punched, they get a larger piece of candy or two small pieces, if they prefer. I cut those stars off when they receive their candy. Finally if they get all the star punched across the bottom, they get a pass of their choice (No Homework, No Shoes, Invite a Friend to Lunch, Stuffed Animal, Oops! Pass). 

Now for a whole class incentive: if ALL students go an entire segment without flipping their counters to red, then they earn one extra minute "free time" (this could be recess time, choose your own center, puzzles, etc). By the end of the day my class would usually earn 5min of something. Most of them realized this wasn't a huge amount of time, so they began asking if they could "bank" their minutes. Pretty smart! So I had a picture of a little pig on the board, that if they chose, they could bank their minutes, but come Friday they had to use them. They loved it! They would then have to vote on how to use their minutes. We also had a to have a discussion that if one or two people flipped their counter they were not to yell at them, point fingers, and so on. That one day it could be them. Instead they were to help their fellow students, by reminding them to stop talking, or be on task, etc. After a good talk this seemed to work.

The counters were great last year, because I already had them and they were two sided. However, my problem was they kept falling off the desks. So I have been really trying to thing of an inexpensive way to do this, and possibly use Velcro on their desks. I did think of Popsicle sticks with a small square of Velcro on it, one side painted yellow or even green, and the other red. Then putting a small square of Velcro on their desk. I don't want to hang anything in the front of the room or on the board, I don't want to draw that much attention to each individual. If you have any suggestions please let me know. Also if you have any questions feel free to comment. I do think I included everything, but again this is a multi-part plan. Again if you have it in place before school, communicate with your parents and the students, it usually runs smoothly. Once back in my classroom I will take pictures of my different boards and such to help with the visualization of this plan.

Also, I do have these files as Adobe files, but I'm not sure how to link them or place them into my blog, so if anyone had suggestions please feel free to share.

My Craft Channel: Fifth Host Revealed: Teresa Collins & Bonus Giveaw...

My Craft Channel: Fifth Host Revealed: Teresa Collins & Bonus Giveaw...: "What a great week!! We're so excited to continue our week of new host introductions, but of course before we proceed we better give..."

What I have been up to...

So for the past two weeks I have had the joy of getting to spend time with my long time friend from Hungry. No, I am not hungry, she is from Hungry! Trust me I heard that joke a LOT when we were in school, I can't imagine how much she heard it. I will fill you in on the background (it's pretty neat). My Godparents were hosts to foreign exchange students while I was in high school and college. If I am not mistaken (and I will be corrected if I am) my dear friend was their first student, and the BEST. She came during our senior year, now we didn't go to the same school, but we did A TON of stuff together that year, and got into plenty of trouble. It is pretty amazing how people come into our lives for a period of time and through miles and years you still remain friends. Here are some pics of our senior year and again when she came to visit in 2001 (sorry they are blurry, pics of pics due to scanner on the fritz)

I was thrilled to find out that her family was coming for a visit this summer, for two weeks. Her youngest child was actually born on the SAME day as my daughter (she was a week early and I was a week late). Now we have spent the past two weeks going places and just hanging out. Enjoy the pics! 

Not many pictures were taken. At a certain point the camera was put away and I was chasing a two year old!

"Picnik Show"

Create a free slideshow with Picnik!

"Picnik Show"

Create a free slideshow with Picnik!

"Picnik Show"

Create a free slideshow with Picnik!

It was very very crowded, so again limited pictures. The best part was the new dolphin show, but you are not allowed to take pictures or video...boo!

 

My Craft Channel: New Show Featuring Kristine McKay, MCC Founder

My Craft Channel: New Show Featuring Kristine McKay, MCC Founder: "We're so excited to continue our week of new host introductions, but of course before we proceed we better give away our Cricut E2 machine ..."

Plastic Spoon Laurel Wreath

So here it is, my craft for the evening. Very very simple and costs less than $5!

What you need: 50-70 plastic spoons, hot glue gun, ribbon

Next: Identify the two places you want to place the hot glue, this is important to keep the wreath symmetrical. Place hot glue on the back of the bowl, and the end of the handle.

Continue until the ends meet, don't get discouraged or worried, I promise it does make a circle! This should take approximately 15 to 20 min. Once the wreath is complete choose ribbon to loop around (secured it by hot glue) the wreath so that it can be hung. I made a bow for the top of mine as well.

sorry blogger wouldn't take the pic as it was (who knows!)

Finally hang it. My tan walls does not do much for it. But I found another pic of someone using the wreath against a canvas. Also I really thought about using the spoons that are silver (made to look like actual silverware). If you make one, send me a pic!